Archbishop of Canterbury faces ‘a challenge for the imagination’

[Anglican Communion News Service] Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby has said that in his new role he, with the rest of the Anglican Communion, is faced with “a challenge for the imagination.”

Speaking in an interview with the communion’s official magazine Anglican World, he said, “What do we mean by the Anglican Communion, and how does it contribute as a blessing to the world in which we live in its present circumstances?

“That’s something I think Rowan [Williams] has been brilliant at, so have the primates generally, and the ACC — as we see from the range of subjects covered in New Zealand1. It’s something we need to continue.

“That challenge to the imagination is something that is constantly renewed and we need to be very reactive to it, and not allow ourselves to get bogged down in looking inward.”

The archbishop’s comments are part of his interview in the second edition of Anglican World, a magazine that has been reporting on the life and mission of the Anglican Communion for several decades. Production was suspended in 2007, but it was relaunched in November 2012.

Along with the feature on Archbishop Welby, the latest edition features articles on the 100th anniversary of the Anglican Diocese of Iran, a major youth conference in Central Africa, the commissioning of the Mothers’ Union’s new worldwide president, and the triennial ACC gathering of Anglicans from around the world, which was this time in Auckland, New Zealand.

The full-color magazine is filled with pictures as well as links to videos of Anglican and Episcopal life from right around the globe. See a preview of this quarter’s edition at http://bit.ly/Z0eYEy

A year’s subscription (four editions) costs only £10 including postage (it is still at the 2007 price) and is available from the Anglican Communion Office online shop http://shop.anglicancommunion.org

Notes to Editors

· 1 At the 2012 meeting of the Anglican Consultative Council, a meeting of Anglicans from around the world who represent their national and regional Churches.

· The Anglican Communion Office serves the Anglican Communion comprising around 85 million members in 38 regional and national member churches around the globe in more than 165 countries. http://www.anglicancommunion.org